To Receive is Better
by Billie the fourth sage
Summary: First installment of my 3 AxelMarluxiaLarxene more than friendship fics. The nobodies are clones, only a little more than animals, to replace what their originals lost. Axel's POV, darkfic, AU


First of all, I don't own any of the characters but Rose. Oh, and the storyline was based off a story by Michael Marshall Smith, under the same title.

This is #1 for my Axel/Marluxia/Larxene friendship fics, and #2 and #3 will come some time later. Character death, as is the format for all three of my ALM stories.

Enjoy, I hope

Oh, and it's AkuMaru cuz I like it.

* * *

I wish I had a car. It would probably scare the shit out of me, but it would be a helluva lot better than the shit they call public transportation. Also, there are so many people.

Everywhere you turn, people are stalking about, but the thing that bothers me is that they're whole.

Everyone's whole, unlike the ones I'm used to seeing.

I should've let go of the hope that all three of us would get away happily. Hopes were always false when it came to us.

If it weren't for Rose, we wouldn't have these hopes. We were better off with Rose, though, otherwise, our lives would've been fucking pointless those twenty something years.

Without Rose, I'd be as stupid as the wall beside me, and I wouldn't be here in this subway train, trying to escape from those who held me all those years.

People are staring, probably because of my face, or maybe my hand if they saw it. Or maybe they can feel my rage. It's like a raging fire in me, and I know it'll come out.

I feel different about Rose. She helped us when there was no reason to. She acted kind to us, even when we didn't know the meaning of the word.

Marluxia said it didn't matter. I think it did. Either way, if Rose hadn't done what she did, she probably wouldn't have died.

Soon, Marluxia and I won't have to suffer, if we get to where we need to go. I wish Larxene could've come with us, but she's dead. Go figure.

* * *

The first memory of life for us was a lot of blue. The liquid we were kept in. We were test tube clones, our DNA extracted from certain people.

We were kept in a place called Oblivion. It was some sort of facility as far as we understood. We were just things, as far as they were concerned.

Rose treated us differently. She talked to us, made us feel better than we ever could have.

Me, Larxene and Marluxia were her favorites. She taught us how to speak and understand. Marluxia learned how to read. Larxene and I were the ones who Rose liked to talk to.

Whenever we nobodies were collected in those black tunnels, we knew it wouldn't be good. They'd pick out a certain person's nobody, they'd be taken away, and if the nobody came back, he or she always lost something of theirs.

We have somebodies, our originals. We would've just taken on their names, but Rose gave us new ones. My original was Lae, but I'm Axel. Arlene's nobody is Larxene, and Lumair is Marluxia's somebody.

It was hard those years. When we were about eight or so, Rose found a way to let us go out of the facility for a while to get a glimpse of the outside world.

It was raining, and we couldn't go too far, because we didn't have any fucking clothes. I mean, why would they go through all that trouble when we were supposed to be too stupid to care?

Whenever anyone other than Rose came, we had to act about as stupid as the others, or else just keep our mouths shut and our expressions blank.

We weren't allowed to think, they said. Sometimes, the people who guard us get paid extra to let people in. Those people were usually drunk and would either laugh at the nobodies or fuck them.

It happened to Marluxia once. He was fifteen, I think, and I was thirteen. I would've punched the guy's lights out if Larxene hadn't first. She had a strong fist.

Larxene is missing both her breasts from a cancer Arlene had when they were seventeen. But it didn't matter to her. Larxene's really strong-willed.

Marluxia lost one of his eyes. I liked them; they were a deep blue. I liked Larxene's too, they were really bright green. She said that mine were the same as hers, but how the fuck was I supposed to know?

I lost a bit of my facial skin when Lae got himself burned by who knows what in the face. When they took my skin off, it hurt like hell, but Rose made it feel better with some medicine. Marluxia kept hugging me 'cause Rose said it'd ease the pain too. It was weird, but I didn't mind it. One time, Lae lost three of his fingers, so I naturally lost mine. Marluxia kissed my hands for weeks. It was nice.

Marluxia is a guy, though he's got a nice face and long hair. You can hardly tell since they took his genitals.

It sucked, but it didn't change Marluxia too much. I was glad for that. I was seventeen, I think. I gave him hugs too, but I don't really get how that helped.

Rose used to say we loved each other. How the fuck would I know? I just knew that I liked Marluxia even more than anyone. If I loved Marluxia, I think I loved Larxene too, since she always made me laugh and I liked that. Then of course, there's Rose.

She said she loved us like her own kids. She didn't have any, though. She was eighteen when she first came around. We were about five.

No matter how good the memories of Rose, Larxene, and Marluxia were, Oblivion was a living nightmare.

Larxene said that it didn't matter what they said; she could do whatever she wanted if she put her mind to it. Along with her, Marluxia said that we could escape one day. Go out and be free with our own lives.

I didn't believe, but hey, it was worth dreaming. Then came the day. Me, twenty-five and Marluxia twenty-seven, Larxene, twenty-six.

We were called into the tunnels, and they picked out Larxene from the other nobodies. Rose seemed as though she was gonna cry.

When they pulled Larxene away, she broke down and told us: Arlene lost all her skin in a fire started by a short-circuit when she was wiring her apartment's electric system. Larxene wasn't coming back.

Rose cried and cried, and both Marluxia and I hugged her tight. Right then, her expression darkened into one we'd never seen on her warm face, and she pulled both our arms.

She took us away from the tunnels, to another place in Oblivion where her room was. She gave us clothes that suited us, and if not for our missing parts, we'd have fit right into a crowd of normal people.

She gave us instructions to get out. It happened so fast. Just then, we heard shouts. I heard what had happened. When they took Larxene…

She was on the operating table, but as they got ready to cut out the first bit of her skin, she said, "Bastards."

It was one word. It isn't fucking much. But that did it; she wasn't even supposed to be able to say anything.

Rose made us run, and they came after her. We heard a blast of a gun, and we were sure we weren't going to see either of our two friends ever again.

* * *

So now I'm on this subway train. Marluxia and I went separate ways; he thought he might be able to replace Lumair. I doubt it. Rose had given us our others' addresses, but I wasn't going to try what Marluxia was.

But I was still going to see Lae. And I think I'm going to take a few things back.

* * *

I thought it was pretty cool, although Axel kinda reminds me of Reno. The next fics will be based off Alien 9 and my own storyline (finally, an original idea ;)

Review, cuz my review space is pathetic with a capital ick.


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